The logic portion of the LSAT confounds a lot of people, because the problems found in it are different from any other questions that they have encountered in other standardized tests. This chapter will help you prepare for this section when gearing up for your LSAT.

The LSAT always contains one Analytical Reasoning section. You'll be
given 35 minutes to work the section. Typically, the section will contain 2324
questions. As with Reading Comprehension, the one variable in the Analytical
Reasoning section is that you won't be able to predict where it shows
up in the order of the different sections of the exam.

How It Stacks Up to the Other Sections

Analytical Reasoning is the definitive "love it or hate it" kind of
section. Although the section has no mathematical equations on it per se, it
does seem that those who intuitively understand spatial reasoning and
variable-laden equations (if set A, not set B) do best here. Those of us who
enjoy brain teasers and abstract mental puzzles will enjoy what this section has
to offer.

It’s important to remember that a lot of the fear people feel when
facing this section is not due to the problems being incredibly difficult.
Rather, it is unfamiliarity with facing a logic game for the first
time. A logic game is a particular type of question that you will only find in
this section of this exam.

CAUTION

This section usually contains four or five logic games, each of which
commonly includes five to six questions—though seeing an especially
complex problem with eight questions isn’t unheard of, particularly when
the testers are trying to rattle you.

A sample of what a logic game might look like follows:

Charles has to put together a roster for his company's annual softball
game against their cross-town rival. He's got eight healthy people that
want to bat for the team: Corwin, Dorian, Hal, Joseph, Kamal, Peter, Ralph,
and Seth. He's allowed to submit five names for his roster. However,
there are some things to take into consideration:

If Ralph plays, Hal must play immediately after Ralph on the roster.

Two of the three managers, Dorian, Kamal, and Ralph, have to be on the
team.

Corwin and Seth can't be next to each other on the roster.

If Kamal is on the team, then Joseph can't be picked.

Peter has to play either first or second.

Among the questions that people often have at this point is, "What on
earth does this have to do with my ability to become an attorney?" While
not as directly applicable as the skills tested for reading and evaluating
conclusions from arguments, the Analytical Reasoning does play a vital role
in the testing process. Logic games are, at base, designed to measure your
ability to quickly understand a system of relationships and to draw conclusions
about those relationships.

In this sample logic game, it’s arguable that how Charles puts together
the roster for his company’s annual softball game isn’t applicable
to legal training. However, what if Charles were your client in a complex tort
case involving an industrial accident? Or a murder case where there were
multiple gun shots being fired by a half-dozen individuals during a bank
robbery? In these cases, being able to untangle a web of facts to draw the right
conclusions—and even understanding who sat next to whom as the events
unfolded—is a crucial skill.